Maybe we should be sitting down for this? But then Cam wouldn’t be able to pace the way he likes to do.
“What is it?” Rosa asks, and there’s a tense edge to her tone now too.
Sure enough, Cam pulls away and starts to pace up and down the area that divides his kitchen from his living room.
“AJ and I are together now,” he blurts out quickly, and when there’s only silence coming from the other end of the phone line, he starts to babble away.
It’s strange, seeing him this way. In the contract negotiations I’ve seen him in, he’s always so passive and mostly just stares people down.
This is... well, this is just a guy talking to his mom... telling her a lie.
“We know it might come as a surprise and that maybe you’ll need some time to get used to the idea, Mom, but?—”
“Of course it’s a surprise,” she interrupts. “But I don’t need to get used to anything, honey. Are you happy?”
He turns to look at me with desperate eyes and I nod urgently for him to say yes, then wave my hands forward for good measure.
I can’t answerthatfor him. I can butt into their conversation at a lot of other moments, but not this one.
“Y-yeah, Mom. I’m happy.” He sounds about as convincing as one of those crappy horror movie actors. Okay, time to step in.
“I’m happy too,” I say, way too loudly, figuring it’s better if Rosa focuses on me being weird. “I’m really so grateful to have Cam in my life, I always have been, but things have changed now.” There, none of that is a lie.
“You do sound happy,” she says. “Thank you two for calling me to tell me.” She sounds like she really appreciates that.
“It was really important for us to be the ones to tell you,” I add, and leave the underlying reason unsaid—that finding out through some tabloid would honestly have been disrespectful.
“So when am I seeing you two?”
We decided not to tell her about the reunion yet, and to wait until spring for that. And since we talked about this part of the conversation, I’m happy to see Cam puts himself back together and takes this one.
“AJ’s going to go spend some time with his family this month, but how about you fly over for a week or so in April?”
“I think that’s a wonderful idea, honey.”
“Can’t wait to see you again, ma’am,” I add, and I have to bring up my hand to bite down on my nails as Cam finishes the call.
Did that go as well as I think it did?
“So?” I ask Cam when he puts his phone down. “Good, right?”
“Yes,” he breathes the word out. “I think it went well.”
“And she did sound happy but not like ... ecstatic, so that’s also a good thing.”
“Yeah, she was a bit confused, though.”
“I think that’s understandable.”
“Yeah, maybe,” he says softly and looks to the side.
“What are you worried about?”
“I’m not worried,” he protests, and I point to the little line between his eyebrows.
“That wrinkle only appears when you’re worried, so out with it.”
He lets out a big breath and hangs his head low.
